Loved this book! The power of female friendship with a great storyline made it a 'can't put it down' book!

I wanted this book as soon as I saw it on Netgalley! Dirty Book Club? Were we all going to read Fifty Shades and then talk about it?

This group of women started in the 60's. Reading banned or dirty books hidden behind the oh so prim cover of a domestic how to book. They are unfiltered and learn more about themselves and their sexuality than any book club I have ever been a part of!

And along the way they are there for each other through everything. Thick or thin, they take care of each other.

When it's time to pass on the key to the club, the four of them hand over the reigns of the book club to four women who couldn't be more different. Or are they?

This was such a fun read! You really must read it! Now I'm off to start my own DBC!

Thank you Netgalley/Gallery

Read all my reviews at: https://brainfartsandbooks.wordpress.com

When I first got my hands on this book, I was ready to get taken away on a kinky 50 Shades of Fantasy kind of ride. Little did I know, this book would really be a book about friendships, new and old, and the togetherness that help to heal two separate groups of women. M.J. is a magazine editor who moves to California to live with her doctor boyfriend. She meets a spunky older lady named Gloria who turns out to be her next door neighbor AND the leader of a secret book club called The Dirty Book Club. The book club starts over again with a whole new group of women including M.J. and the unexpected friendships that ensue are so endearing and real that I could imagine each and every scene as it happened in this book. There is so much more to this book than a group of women reading the same “dirty” book each month. From relationships to jobs to just needing a friend to cry on, this book covers all the wonderful emotions in life. I really loved how the author integrated the lives of the founding members into the lives of the new generation. Geniously done. I would pick up this book and read it again.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lisi Harrison, and Gallery Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I simply could not get into this book. With a awkward start, too many characters, and nothing remotely related to the title, this was a fairly quick disconnect for me, which is too bad, because I really wanted to like the novel. Based on this book, I'm not sure I would check out other titles by the author.

I loved this book. It was so much fun to read! What a great story about girl friends. There were some parts that are so funny like some of the book reviews.

The idea sounded good, but the characters were so lame that I couldn't like any of them, let alone even care about them.

Basics: 4 women are drawn together by the former Dirty Book Club members and are to carry on the tradition of monthly dirty books for their meetings. Even the characters didn't want to be there. One thing annoyed me from the start and that was that it took until chapter 9 before we even got to the book club.

All the women and most of the men had such shallow development that I finally skipped to the end to see how it resolved rather than continue waiting and waiting for it to get good.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I received this book "The Dirty Book Club" from Netgalley for my honest review.

I haven't read anything else by this author. This was a fun read. At first I didn't think I was going to like it but as I got to know the characters I wanted to read more. It was funny and did surprise me at times. The end was great! I loved how the girls connected and became friends.

I think a lot of teens will seek out this book due to the author, and I think the author respected that. Even though it's a book about sex, it's also a book about friendship. It's not graphic, but it is real. The only thing I didn't like is that I felt like things were happening put of the story that sometimes lost me. Overall, however, I would definitely recommend. And I can absolutely see this being a book club novel itself.

Gloria, Dot, Liddy and Marjorie agreed to secret pact number thirty-four in 1962 that when their kids grow up and their husbands die, they will move to France. On the same day they started pact number thirty-five, The Dirty Book Club. “A fifty-four-year tradition that would save them all.”

M.J. Stark’s work was her escape. When she was editing other people’s stories she forgot about her own, but when she was offered co-editor in chief of her magazine, it was a kick in the teeth. She was promised editor-in-chief, but her boss didn’t think she could handle it by herself. Therefore, she left New York and moved to California to live with her boyfriend, Dan Hartwell.

M.J. met Dan’s neighbor Gloria and her life changed forever. When Gloria’s husband died, Gloria moved to France and gave four more women (M.J., Addie, Jules and Britt) their secret letters and their forbidden library. The young women weren’t big fans of each other, but their lives became entwined for better or worse.

I have read my fair share of Chick Lit and this book was okay. Nothing extraordinary. Just another novel about four women with unique personalities who become friends. If you like Sex and the City, this book is for you.

3.5 stars. Lovely cozy read about four women who start off as strangers and develop a lasting friendship based around well, a Dirty Book Club. Loved the idea and loved the cover.

I absolutely love this idea. Four ladies that are complete strangers leaning that friendship is more important than they originally thought. The way they met and learned about each others lives was heartwarming and not always sweet. Thank you NetGalley and Lisi Harrison for allowing me to read and give a honest review of this awesome book.

First of all every thing about this book calls out to every bookworm out there, the cover, the blurb, the title. The title did it for me right away and reading the blurb definitely solidified for me that I just had to read this!! All my favorite tropes in one book, yes please!!! I'm so glad for getting a copy of this. I loved reading it, it was a super fast read,

This book was such a joy to read. At times, it was a bit slow, but the characters made up for it. It was slightly predictable, yet still fun to read. Adult fans of "The Clique" will go crazy over this one!

This story follows 4 women, who are reluctantly brought together by a secret book club. They all have their own problems, and in becoming close with each other, help solve each other's problems or support them through difficult times. This was a heart-warming story on the benefits of friendship.

Very good beach read--great for a fun women's book club.

A fun read that reminds you of all the reasons why best friends are the best part of life. The book tells two stories - that of the past and of the present. Unlike some books, I enjoyed both tales. Great summer feel good read.

Initial Excitement & Summary
Lisi Harrison's CLIQUE series was one of my favorites back in the day. I used to count down new book releases on my white board before Goodreads was really a thing, and this was one of those series I'd try to track. When I saw that she was releasing an interesting-sounding adult contemporary, I was immediately on board. The book showed up on Goodreads YEARS ago and I was pretty convinced it would never come out. So, you can imagine how pumped I was when I was approved on Netgalley. I read it ASAP in July. 😂

The premise for this one is that MJ finally moves to California to be with her long-distance boyfriend. She befriends her elderly neighbor, Gloria, who once had a Dirty Book Club with a few of her best friends. They vowed to move to Paris when their husbands all died and the day finally comes, so they pass along the DBC to MJ and three other women.

Storytelling
I was looking for something like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and honestly this book is the closest I've come in some ways. I loved the inter-generational storyline of both books and the fact that they revolved around some kind of media (Evelyn as a movie star and Gloria/her friends reading dirty books). Both involved magazines and journalist main characters too. I don't think they're exactly the same, but if you're looking for something similar... maybe give this one a shot!

Okay, so I reaaaallly loved this book. I'm not sure if it was one of those things where I just read it at the right time (meaning immediately when I was really in the mood for it) or if this book is really a five star read, but I just really enjoyed it so much. So, maybe take my rating with a grain of salt? lol.

The book mixes in the history of the DBC with letters from their meetings, and the fact that the new DBC read the same books as the old DBC. The newer club brought together four very different women, which was also true of the original DBC. There was one sexual member, one very religious member, one dealing with infidelity, and one who can really just be described as the leader. I loved that different women came together and used the dirty books to empower themselves in each other, regardless of what year it was.

There was one scene in this book that had me absolutely rolling with laughter. If you decide to read it, the scene where they're in the hotel room. It involves a lot of alcohol, cornrows, and a Disney sleep shirt. The book overall made me smile a lot, which is a huge plus, but there were some heavier issues too. MJ lost her family in one swoop before the book takes place, which obviously impacts her throughout.

Negatives & Ending Feels
MJ was fairly annoying at times because of her wishy-washy feelings toward everything - her job, her boyfriend, the book club... I wasn't super attached to her. The other women were really interesting to me and I think they were highlighted enough to make up for that. I didn't dislike MJ and I did mostly like her.

The ending was interesting. I do have mixed feelings about how some things went down but I think a lot of it was appropriate kind of? The women end up in a few different places that make sense for each of them but not everything was a happily ever after.

TL;DR?
If you have a group of girls you can read sexy books with (or even if you don't), yo u should give this one a try. I loved seeing how the two different DBCs ran meetings, grew closer, and connected over the years. It kind of scratched the itch I had after EVELYN HUGO, which is a pretty big compliment. I liked how empowered the women became in very different ways as they all figured out what they wanted out of life.

This book was so hokey I couldn't get into it. I mean the girls family is named January, August, April and May June. No thanks. I thought this would
Be funny but I was sorely disappointed.

The Dirty Book Club is an interesting novel about female empowerment. Now, while I enjoyed how the characters came together I wasn't as connected to them as I would have liked. In another sense though I think this book speaks volumes about the repression of women in the sixties.

An overall good book that is sure to be liked by many!

What an enjoyable read!! The Dirty Book Club is a Women's Fiction novel that is completely fresh and original. The storyline grabbed me immediately!! My favorite part of this book was the well-developed characters!! The ladies were endearing, relatable and intriguing. The novel was perfectly paced and twists and turns really took me by surprise--love that!! I really think this novel would make an amazing movie (I've already mentally picked the perfect cast lol). Lisi Harrison managed to make me feel like I was one of the gang and because of that fact, I couldn't put my kindle down. I haven't read Lisi Harrison before, but I will definitely be checking out whatever she comes out with next!!